~Adrianna

Adrianna de Svatich currently dances for Ballet Fleming. I have known Adrianna for about 2 years now. We met when she was dancing with Pennsylvania Ballet. At the time, I was working on a project to raise awareness for the fallen police officers of Philadelphia. So, I had brought her in for that as well as a shoot for Tutu.com.

Here are some of those images:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=318632742824&set=a.318632362824.146012.201276982824&type=3&theater

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=305180722292&set=a.300751307292.145157.256421562292&type=3&theater

Months later, I created a series, Wallflowers, which is a play on words. The premise was that I would shoot these beautiful ballerinas (flowers) against my wall in the studio. For this, I had her and Molly Flippen, who at the time danced with her in PAB, shoot with me for it.

Here is a shot of her from that series:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=392029547292&set=a.385496922292.166923.256421562292&type=3&theater

Here is the behind the scenes video of that shoot:

Fast forward… This season, Adrianna went to dance for Ballet Fleming, which I am on the Board of as well as being company photographer. I was really happy when I heard this. I always loved her. She was always sweet and happy and a joy to work with.

So, after a company shoot with Ballet Fleming, I asked Adrianna to come back into my studio and work with me on a couple of projects.

Here is a shot of her from the Ballet Fleming shoot:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150354138257293&set=a.10150354028957293.350169.256421562292&type=3&theater

For our shoot, I wanted to include her on my EmpoweredME series plus my BalletsFemme series. So we did and grabbed a few fun, non project themed, shots.

Here is a teaser:

Ballets Femme ~ Alex

Sometimes as I am working, a name or title will come to me. Ideas will simply pop in my head. Sadly, there is no shut down mode for me except when I am asleep. When a title comes to me, I think about what the project would look like.

One day, the title, Ballets Femme came to me and I sat there and wondered what on earth this would look like. At the same time, I recalled a friend who said that I should do a book on Barre Boys and have it be a part of a Duet with a female counterpart. So after thinking about it some, I decided that this series will be an edgier series then I usually do.

Ballets Femme will showcase the strength, power and beauty of the ballerina but it a much less flowery way. I don’t even think you will see a single tutu. This will be very dark and edgy? lol It will not be fairytale like or princessy. My hope with this is to also challenge myself artistically and get away from my standard high key lighting set up. I want this to be a relatively new angle for me.

So, as I am thinking about this project and who to shoot for it, I immediately thought of my friend, Alex, who dances with Ballet Arizona now. She stuck out immediately due to her physique, her legs especially. She has an amazing presence when I shoot her. Her legs, however, are amazing. Gosh that sounded creepy. lol. No but, when I shoot dancers, one of the things that makes the most impact and can elevate the intensity of an image is their muscle tone. You can see this in Alex’s legs. There is an energy through them and you can see that tone when she poses, almost like she is flexing them.

Herein, lied the problem. Alex now dances for Ballet Arizona. Arizona is not in Pennsylvania and is in fact in the southwestern part of the country, not the midwest like I thought lol. Ugh. The one person who I knew off the bat had to be part of this was not available. Well kiddies, the game changer took place when I was on Facebook last week and saw on my feed something about her coming home. I immediately messaged her on Fb and sent a text. I had to have her in studio while she was home. I was just hoping she would have time!

Since my first shoot with her and her sister, Genna, I developed a friendship with the family. Well, I haven’t met the dad yet but I think he would like me too. I grew fond of Alex and there was an energy we shared when working together. I shot her during her run at BIBC then did some fun location work in the streets of Boston. I have always tried to be as supportive of her and her career as possible and they have done likewise. I am really honored to call them friends and just am so excited to watch her career blossom!

Anyway, so I got her in for a couple of hours and I tried some new lighting on a gray drop and the results are just wonderful!!! So excited to try more out! Below are a few of her favorites from the shoot! Hope you enjoy!!!

B